Ofsted rebuffs FOI request for inspection data
Catherine Gaunt
Thursday, September 19, 2013
The Pre-school Learning Alliance has had to re-submit a freedom OF information request after Ofsted said that it would be too costly to provide the information on earl years inspections for the time period requested.
The Pre-School Learning Alliance’s initial FOI asked for data going back over two years.
The Alliance says that Ofsted’s inability to respond highlights ‘extremely worrying’ failings in the inspectorate’s monitoring systems.
The early years organisation has been forced to re-submit a new FOI request relating only to complaint-initiated inspections dating back to September 2012.
Ofsted rejected the original request, because it said the data on quality assurance is ‘not easily accessible’ and costs more than the budget set for FOI requests.
The Alliance had asked for detailed information going back two years on early years inspections, including data on the number of providers who had been downgraded following a complaint-triggered inspection.
Ofsted refused the request, stating that while it holds the data, retrieving it on inspections carried out before the new inspection framework was introduced in September 2012 would require a manual search of its inspection records, and that to do this would cost more than the £600 limit set to respond to FOI requests.
Neil Leitch said, ‘Given the serious concerns about the fairness of Ofsted inspections that have been raised by the sector, Ofsted’s admission that it would need to manually collate the data on quality assurance downgrades is extremely worrying. Isn’t this something they should already be monitoring?
‘We believe it should be a priority for Ofsted to collate crucial data in an accessible way. The rejection of this aspect of our FoI request will inevitably be interpreted by the sector as proof that Ofsted has little understanding of the important role that accessible, accurate data plays in inspiring confidence, openness and transparency.’
The Alliance has been forced to file a new request for data on complaint-initiated inspection downgrades relating only to inspections that have taken place since September 2012.
The new request, which was filed on 18 September, also asks for information on the number of formal complaints about early years inspection judgments made by providers, and a breakdown of the outcomes of these complaints, over 12 months. The Alliance originally requested this information for inspections over the past two years.
Mr Leitch added, ‘We look forward to a speedy response from Ofsted, especially given the fact that they waited until the very last day of the 20 working day limit for FoI responses to tell us they were unable to provide the information we originally requested.
‘Without comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date data, the inspectorate simply cannot continue to dismiss the serious concerns that the sector is raising about the inspection process. Ofsted’s primary role is to provide an independent assessment of the quality of providers, but who is assessing the quality of Ofsted?’
